Monthly Archives: March 2013

Save Noisebridge Fundraiser – Art Auction, Music, Food & More

  By robb | March 28, 2013 - 7:45 pm |
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noisebridge logoYou are, hereby, cordially invited to Noisebridge on March 30, 2013 for a fundraiser to save the epic hackerspace from closing this July. Of coarse you don’t need an invitation to visit Noisebridge & enjoy the plethora of activities, classes & technical infrastructure available there; the space is open 24/7 & entry is merely based upon “be(ing) excellent to each other” so feel free to drop by anytime, day or night; but please…no sleeping.wakeupandhackkitty

 

Noisebridge members provided critical infrastructure & technical assistance to OccupySF. They made bike generator that powered the Media Tent. They provided free internet for all of Bradley Manning Plaza, a phone to make free local & long distance calls & a 24/7 webcam streaming to the internet that kept watch when we were under threat of attack from police. They built us an awesome website & hosted it themselves. They taught classes on internet security & privacy. They provided free assistance on all technical matters that arose & a place for occupiers to escape to when the frontline was too chaotic. Indeed, Noisebridge was OccupySF’s greatest ally in our battle for politico-economic justice throughout the encampment & still remain so to this day.

 

So, please, if you have the time, come by & enjoy the art, music, demos, presentations, festivities & more this Saturday while Noisebridge celebrates it’s 5 years of service to the San Francisco community & help save Noisebridge from closing this July. OccupySF is going to need them as things pick up this spring, summer & fall…it’s not over till it’s over & we have only just begun.

DATE:        Saturday, 30-March-2013
TIME:         4pm to 11pm
WHERE:    Noisebridge, 2169 Mission St, 3rd floor (1.5 blocks from 16th St. Mission BART) — Map & How to Get here
WHO:         Geeks, dorks, nerds, hipsters, punks, hippies, weirdos — Anyone and Everyone — all genders — all ages!
WHAT:       Live bands!     Art!     Demos!     Presentations!     Workshops!     Sticker & Patch Exchange!     Zines!      Silent Art Auction!     Raffle!
 HOW:       Gently Suggested $10 – 20 Donation!

and remember…be excellent to each other.

TransPacific Partnership

  By Johnsf | March 23, 2013 - 8:53 pm |
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The TransPacific Partnership (TPP):
What Corporations Want
and Why People in 13 Countries are Saying “NO!”

Q & A and Open Discussion
with Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director, Citizens Trade Campaign

Occupy Forum continues Monday, March 25th, from 6:30 – 9 pm , Global Exchange.
2017 Mission Street (at 16th Street) 2nd Floor, near16th Street BART Station.
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
 
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a massive new international trade pact being pushed by the U.S. government at the behest of transnational corporations. If it continues on its current course, the TPP will serve two primary purposes:
 
1. Making it easier for corporations to shift jobs throughout the world to wherever labor is the most exploited and regulations are the weakest; and
 
2. Putting checks on democracy at home and abroad by constraining governments’ ability to regulate in the public interest.
 
The TPP is already being negotiated between the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — but it is also specifically intended as a “docking agreement” that other Pacific Rim countries would join over time, with Japan, Korea, China and others already expressing some interest.

Corporations already cheering the TPP include Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wal-Mart, Chevron, Newscorp, GE and Halliburton. The TPP has been questioned — if not outright opposed — by labor, environmental, family farm, consumer, indigenous and other social justice groups on four continents.
 
Join us to learn about the current state of negotiations, growing #NoTPP movements across continents, and upcoming opportunities for action to #StopTPP!

RVSP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/496566303712067/

http://www.globalexchange.org/events/discussion-transpacific-partnership-tpp-what-corporations-want-how-people-13-countries-are-sa

Time will be allotted for Q&A and open discussion. Monday March 25, 6:30 – 9 pm.
2017 Mission Street, 2nd Floor #200, near Mission/16th Street BART
Donations to OccupyForum to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

THE TPP HAS BEEN CALLED “NAFTA ON STEROIDS”

“As a direct result of NAFTA, there are fewer good jobs, more struggling family farms,
less stable food systems, and everyday consumer safety measures are weaker and
social inequality grows. The pact’s intellectual property rules continue to undermine
access to affordable medicine, while its financial service provisions have undermined
banking regulations.  NAFTA fueled even more the conditions that precipitated an
economic emigration crisis and exacerbated a false drug war, leading to mass-scale
human rights abuses where tens of thousands of citizens have been the victims.  It
has degraded the earth and its ecosystems in numerous ways, including from mining
and other resource extraction projects, and has had pronounced effects on indigenous
peoples’ sovereignty.  Subsequent trade agreements have similarly propelled a race to
the bottom in wages, labor rights and environmental protection, as well as deregulation
and privatization, contributing to the worldwide financial and climate crises. Halting
further damage should be a shared priority of our peoples. Instead, because NAFTA has simultaneously redirected wealth and power to elites in each of the countries involved, the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, among others, are now seeking to expand NAFTA’s trade and investment rules throughout the Pacific Rim in the form of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).”

Operation Wall Street : Proposal and Declaration

  By robb | March 12, 2013 - 1:15 am | ,
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Operation Wall St

Anonymous launches Operation Wall Street

    The weekend before Christmas 2012, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) received a response from the FBI to a FOIA reguest it had filed. The document showed “that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity” according to Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of PCJF who went on to say “These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America.”

On February 3rd during the Super Bowl, the United States Federal Reserve was hacked and Anonymous claimed to have published personal info on over 4,000 bank executives. The data was allegedly left “on a misconfigured server (*in Tel Aviv*) and basically open for grabs” the hacking crew Par:AnoIA claimed on it’s website. The Federal Reserve stated that a third-party service was the source of the vulnerability.

Occupy News & Updates

Fighting Wall Street Influence

    On February 27th, “a total of 14GB of data, code and software related to Bank of America, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, TEKSystems and ClearForest” had been released and days later reports of embedded malware and trojans began to surface. The dump included emails between Bank of America and the company contracted to spy on Anonymous and Occupy activists, Bank of America source code and “a full version of ClearForest’s text analyzing software OneCalais,” used to spy on the activist groups.

Reminicient of when HBGeary boasted of it’s ability to oust Anonymous, the loose-knit collective reacted by releasing embarassing information and launching an online campaign known as Operation Wall Street or #OpWallSt; as follows:

Operation Wall Street : Proposal and Declaration

This is a call to all Anonymous “members” and citizens of the world.

It is obvious that the DoJ and other government entities such as the SEC think that it is more important for them to regulate freedom of speech and information rather than to regulate the blatant organized crimes of the financial market. They persecute people like us, Occupy, and Arron Swartz instead of the Bankers and Wall Street executives and CEOs who have robbed Americans of their hard earned tax dollars.

They hand out billions upon billions of dollars to people who in no way need it yet our conditions for the poor, or even the middle class, have been continually diminishing. The middle class is now almost non existent thanks to the crimes of Goldman Sachs and other firms who have indulged in sinister and criminal practices.

Thousands of innocent and exploited people are being forced into homelessness while these same CEOs and executives make billions in so called profit. They make their fortunes on the shattered lives and broken dreams of people who were nothing more than slightly ignorant when trying to establish a comfortable life for themselves and their family.

It is no longer tolerable that these men and women get to live in luxury and lawlessness while innocent people are pushed into poverty and people who fight for freedom are prosecuted and demonized.

They demonize Occupy, they demonize Anonymous, they demonized Arron Swartz, they demonized Julian Assanage and Bradley Manning. They demonize the very people they force onto the street by calling them incompetent and lazy while calling themselves successful.

They must be stopped. With the recent pathetic assault on Anonymous’ methods by the Bank of America, with the growing despondence of the public. OPERATION WALL STREET, must be launched.

Although the attack on the NYSE was coordinated and acted on, more must be done now! It should be the duty of any Anonymous, any hacker, in solidarity with Occupy, to release the Dox on the CEOs & any and all Executives of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Wells Fargo, Chase, Meryl Lynch, and any other guilty party. Their dox, any and all possible personal information on these people, must be released and made public and spread across the internet as much as possible. The people who have lost their homes and had their lives destroyed deserve to know who it was that did it.

We can no longer let these disgraceful human beings live in luxury and escape the consequences of their actions. People are angry and rightfully so. We are stuck more and more in a state which we can not get out of and which is not our fault. The guilty must pay. OPERATION WALL STREET HAS BEEN PROPOSED, LAID OUT, AND LAUNCHED. We promise not to hurt you once we release your information but we cannot hold the people you screwed over responsible for their actions once they know who you are and where you live. You are not free to escape the consequences of your actions, no one is.

We are Anonymous, We are Legion, We do not Forgive, We do not Forget.

Expect Us.

Climate Forum: Fighting Coal Exports in the West

  By robb | March 9, 2013 - 8:51 am | ,
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Climate Forum: Fighting Coal Exports in the West

Friday March 08
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

The Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 518 Valencia, San Francisco

Forum & Fundraiser for the Coal Export Action

Coal is largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world causing catastrophic climate change.

The Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming has been called “The Saudi Arabia of Coal.”

The coal industry’s domestic markets are drying up with increased regulation on pollutants from coal plants, increased environmental scrutiny and the cost of natural gas. Therefore, with a loss in profits, coal company’s like Arch Coal and Peabody Energy need a new place to sell their dirty black rock out of the Powder River Basin. Asian markets are more than willing buyers of all things coal. Industry just needs an efficient way to get it there. Now the coal industry is lobbying for more outlets for western state coal along the Pacific Coast.

In Montana, Arch Coal is looking to open up more coal mining. The coal giant applied for permits to mine Otter Creek in Eastern Montana.

Across the Northwest, a coalition of environmentalists and landowners have come together to fight back and stop the development of Big Coal’s vital infrastructure. In August at the Coal Export Action, in protest of the mining of Otter Creek, 23 courageous people from all over the west were arrested sitting-in in the Montana state capital. Now those activists are going on trial to press the climate issue in the courts.

Join us for a forum and fundraiser for the Coal Export Action.

Event to include:
-Reportback and panel on Western Coal Exports
-Amazing videos
-Snacks

WHAT:Climate Forum: Fighting Coal Exports in the West
WHERE:518 Valencia
WHEN: Friday, Mar. 8, 630pm-930pm
CONTACT:Jack at escobar.jack [at] gmail [dot] com
DONATE: $5-20 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds

This is a Rising Tide North America production

Too Big to Fail

  By Johnsf | March 8, 2013 - 7:17 pm |
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Reform-Wall-Street.org presents

Too Big to Fail

A 99-minute HBO film (2012)

Directed by Curtis Hanson

With Paul Giamatti, Ed Asner, James Woods and William Hurt

 Based on Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves (2009), a book by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The film depicts the financial meltdown of 2008, particularly the role of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Sunday, April 7, 3 pm

Padre Palou Community

3400 16th St. (at Church St.), SF

Free

A DISCUSSION WILL FOLLOW THE FILM. For more info, visit: http://reform-wall-street.org/contact/ or call 415-722-5852 Co-sponsored by Occupy SF Outreach Working Group

Anarchist Book Fair

  By Johnsf | March 7, 2013 - 8:18 pm |
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8 Day of Anarchy 2013 has begun!

Wednesday, March 13 – we will be showing crime movies from the 90s and discussing if time and energy allow. Location: the long haul, Berkeley California

Thursday, March 14 – we will be honoring the life of Audrey Goodfriend with our anarchist and radical comrades. This will include video footage, still photography, acoustic music, and speakers on various aspects of the radical movement she was a part of including the Spanish Civil War, the protest of World War II, the pacifist movement, the free education movement, performance, and finally anarchism. This is a potluck event, please bring bread, cheese, chocolate, and smiles. Location: Humanist Hall, Oakland California 7 pm

Friday, March 15 – there are several events happening today including the anarchist Café in San Francisco (7pm), a march against police brutality in Oakland (9 pm), and we will be having an anarchist picnic at noon. Watch for the black flags. Bring good food! Location: the top of Ohlone Park, Berkeley California

Saturday, March 16 – anarchists amok in the Mission! Alongside the armory event we are involved in four other events. More information below

  1. (A) Subversive Book Event @ Station 40 (3030b 16th Street). 11am-6pm
  2. A Day of (A) THEORY & DIY Skill Shares! @ In The works (3265 17th Street)
  3. Hackmeet Presents: Hack For Anarchy! @ Noisebridge (2169 Mission Street)
  4. Anti-Capitalist Theory & Practice @ the Redstone building (2940 16th Street)

Sunday, March 17 – the 14th annual BASTARD conference. Workshops and times have been announced on the BASTARD website. Location: The Genetics and Plant Biology Building on UC Berkeley Campus

For more info on 8 Days of Anarchy visit http://www.anarchistnews.org/content/8-day-anarchy-2013-has-begun

2013 Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair

Saturday & Sunday March 16 – 17

The 18th annual San Francisco Anarchist Book Fair will be March 16 and 17, 2013.

For the first time, the book fair will be held at The Armory Community Center (http://www.armorycommunitycenter.com), located in San Francisco’s Mission District at the corner of 14th Street and Mission.

The Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair is a free two-day event presented by Bound Together Bookstore (http://boundtogetherbooks.wordpress.com).

http://www.bayareaanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com

Occupy Forum & Code Pink Drone Protest at Sen. Feinstein’s House Sunday

  By robb | March 2, 2013 - 10:03 pm | ,
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Apologies for the last minute notice, again – everyday operations have been difficult since SFPD confiscated and, subsequently, “lost” all of our media equipment. Anyway, OccupySF received the following request for assistance from Code Pink, a long time allay of OccupySF:

John Stewart 4 Code Pink "We Want The Memos"

John Stewart 4 Code Pink “We Want The Memos”

Friends,

Code Pink is in action AT DIANE FEINSTEIN’S house tomorrow to demand that she not go ahead with confirmation of John Brennan as Secretary of Defense until she obtains the DOJ drone memos that reveal his involvement with U.S. drone murder policy. We are telling her that, as her constituents, we are WATCHING her and demanding that she insist on getting the memos or NO CONFIRMATION. We believe that Feinstein is in the Bay Area, and that she will know we’re out there. We’ll have banners, signs, drums, flutes, good energy, videographers and photographers, and hopefully the news media.

Could everyone please forward this action information asap to occupy, peace and justice, and other groups you have contacts for? Thank you so much.

When: Sunday, March 3, 10 am -12 noon
Where: Diane Feinstein’s mansion, Pacific Heights, 2460 Lyon @ Vallejo St.
What: Stand with Code Pink to demand– No Drone Memos, No Brennan Confirmation!
Stop the killbots!

We’re also asking Feinstein to hold hearings on the U.S. drone program, and to stop the killing by drone of civilians, both U.S. and all others. No one should have to live in fear of death from U.S. drones in the skies above. We want the wars, all illegal, to end too of course. Come out and demand that your senator listen to her constituents and stop the bleeding and injustice NOW.

Cynthia Papermaster, Berkeley, CA, 510-333-6097

 

and Occupy Forum continues as scheduled

 

Occupy Forum with CODEPINK

Monday, March 4th,  6 – 9 pm

at Global Exchange

Occupy Forum continues at Global Exchange 2017 Mission Street, 2nd floor

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!

DRONES: Killing by Remote Control

Liquidating human beings at the touch of a button?  Surveillance from the skies? Sound like science fiction? With names like “Predator”, “Reaper”, and “Global Hawk”, drones extinguish human life, and frequently by mistake: civilians including children and babies have been blown to bits in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and drones could be used here at home to hunt down fugitives in a nightmare scenario. Drones are powerful surveillance tools, capable of carrying face recognition systems, license plate scanners, thermal imaging, open WiFi “sniffers” and other sensors. As the result of a lawsuit, the FAA released for the first time a list of the names of all public and private entities applying for authorizations to fly drones domestically. The Department of Homeland Security, The FBI, the Department of Defense, local law enforcement, businesses and private individuals are all hungry to use, or are already using, the technology. Combined with mobile phone tracking and drone video signals — and scarce legal privacy protections in the U.S.– drones will make our historical worst case scenarios look like a Sunday picnic. On what basis are targets selected? Why does Obama use the drone as his weapon of choice?  Who is paying for all of this? We the Taxpayers? Who is behind it? How can we make it stop???

Nancy L. Mancias is a campaign organizer for CODEPINK. An anti-war, gay and women’s rights advocate, Mancias has been actively trying to bring the troops home from their overseas misadventures and waging peace and equality across the country. She has also been part of the movement against torture and a proponent of closing the prison in Guantánamo. Like many in the anti-war movement, Mancias views her work against drone warfare as a natural extension of her peace efforts. She is a contributing writer to Beautiful Trouble: A toolbox for revolution, a book that puts the accumulated wisdom of decades of creative protest into the hands of the next generation of change-makers.

CODEPINK organizer Mancias will explain who is behind this horrific idea, how it’s been normalized, and paid for by us, the Taxpayers, and tell us about CODEPINK’s multi-pronged campaign to stop drones

before they fill our skies.

Time will be allotted for Q&A and discussion. Monday 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Global Exchange 2017 Mission Street 2nd floor (#200 on keypad) near Mission and 16th BART.

Donations to OccupyForum to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

Watch the video at http://youtu.be/vm2kVGyeoX0